All change in Spain

On 11 March Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid presided over a state memorial service in Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral on the tenth anniversary of the Madrid train bombing which left 191 dead and almost 2,000 injured. A few hours later he made his final address to the Spanish bishops’ conference, which met to elect his successor as president. Many Spanish media outlets described it as a sour address, one they claimed matched the tone that had predominated throughout his term of office. In the Catalan language paper El Punt Avui, one commentator observed: "Rouco has been the voice of law, a gruff voice with a cold view of the world and of its people.” His term lasted a total of 12 years interrupted by a three-year spell when Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pe